Nice & Slow
by Nemisses
Summary: What will happen after they said their goodbyes. Tiva & all characters
1. Chapter 1

This is my first story ever, since English is not my native tongue please forgive me for my mistakes. Like Ziva I can manage English quit well but like her I do get confused with the idioms/proverbs sometimes, words spoken are totally different from the way you write them, so sometimes you've just got to litererly speak instead of reading my words. Since I also am not aware of the regulations, laws and other legal stuff in the USA, mistakes will be made but bare with me. I am from Europe, Netherlands to be exact. I have not seen the season 5 finale yet, but read a small synopsis and that got me thinking. So here it is, my very first story, and I am scared as hell.

All the characters don't belong to me and I never had or will have the illusion of owning them. I like criticism, but only those who I can use, so telling me my story sucks, doesn't really help. Language improvements are always welcome. (big grin)

"**Nice and Slow"**

Written by

Nemisses

Ziva opened her front door to find Tony standing there. "hey" he said. "hey" she said, while turning around leaving Tony at the front door .

As he walked in, he closed the door and started to look around, "you don't waste time, were is all you stuff"

"They already picked it up, about an hour ago, my plane leaves at 09.30 tomorrow morning, ..besides I didn't take all my stuff with me from Tel Aviv anyway, I rented the place with everything in it"

Tony sighed…"you already got your marching orders"

Yess, I did….first home then a view medical and physical tests and then ……Ziva stopped midsentence...then who knows".

"well who knows what" Tony asked.

Ziva looked at him "Tony…...don't ask, that way I don't have to lie to you" She looked at him with eyes that he just couldn´t resist any longer.

He wanted her, all this time she was off limits to him, simply because they were partners, not just because Gibbs would have him keelhauled if he ever were to sleep with his partner, it was one of his own rules as well, it was just too complicated, but now she was no longer his partner, hell… she was going back to Israel to do God knows what, and there was the other important factor, he loved her.

Tony stood up walked over to Ziva, took her face in his hands and gave her a long, slow and very passionate kiss. She responded by leaning into him and returning his kiss with an a hunger he didn´t expect.

Slowly she was taking of his shirt, gently pushing it over his bare shoulders, her hands guiding it all the way down, hesitating at his jeans, but that´s where he took over, he lifted her arms so her shirt would come off much more easily.

Then he proceeded to guide her to her own bedroom, were he lifted her onto the bed.

"are you sure" he whispered, "as sure as you are" came her husky whispered replay.

The night that followed was filled with passion, love and knowing that they each had found their soulmates.

Tony woke up, realizing something, or better yet someone was lying on top of him. Ziva had managed to somehow sleep right on top of him the entire night. Well, he mused she hadn't been lying when she had said she liked being on top during their undercover mission.

"Ziva, ziva wake up" He softly rubbed her back, trying to wake her up gently. He could feel her body slowly starting to wake up. "what …." he heard her mumble, a voice filled with sleep.

"promise me one thing, Ziva, don't get yourself killed, I couldn't bear losing you, not after it took this long for me to find you"

Ziva lifted up her head, looking him straight in the eyes "you know I cannot make that promise, Tony…. but I can promise you this, I´ll be more careful with everything I do"

Tony sighed, he knew he had to be content with what he could get, like him she wasn't the type to open up no matter what the occasion would be. He would crack a joke or quote a move , Ziva would just go into silent mode, like she was doing right now. She moved away from him, got out of bed, he could feel it straight away, she was already creating a distance between them in order to protect herself from him, like she was starting to feel guilty for letting somebody see the real woman behind the mask.

They all had gathered at the airport to see her off, even Abby had left her sanctuary in order to see her friend off. She and Ziva had become real friends, in spite of the fact that Abby was still afraid of showing any affection towards Ziva because she was afraid of losing another close friend to her. Kate had been a good friend and Abby just couldn't take another loss like that again, so she wouldn't let Ziva get real close but everyone knew Ziva had grown on Abby.

After what Abby always lovingly referred to as a grouphug had taken place, Ziva faced Gibbs. She gave him a small smile, not really knowing what to do or say, she shook his hand. Gibbs just pulled her into his arms and gave her a hug. "I'll get you back, one way or another, I'll get you back" He whispered in her ear.

Ziva turned around and proceeded to walk to the cargo plane that was going to take her back to Israel, she had already said her goodbyes to Ducky, Palmer and MacGee, but mostly to Tony, she just couldn't face him anymore, she didn't want him (or the others) to see her close to tears. It was the longest walk of her life.

Tony just stood there, letting her take his heart and soul with her. Gibbs could see how Tony just simply broke to pieces inside, he knew then and there, Tony had lost his heart to the female Mossad agent who entered their lives more then 2 years ago.

Auther's note

Hopefully you'll enjoy. Comments are most welcome.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

8 Months later

Gibbs somehow managed to get MacGee and Tony back onto his team, he more or less blackmailed Director Vance into giving him his team back, Gibbs never revealed how he did it, but everyone knew it took him a lot of so called 'favours' to get it done. The one thing he couldn't manage was getting Ziva back. Her chair remained empty, until Director Vance made Gibbs choose a new member, it wasn't like Director Vance didn't try to get Ziva back, Mossad just didn't give any cooperation in doing so, they kept quiet with everything concerning Ziva, no information was given, everytime Gibbs informed with Mossad if they had received NCIS's requests for the return of their former Liason Officer, nothing happened, silence was their only replay.

2 Months after that

Gibbs was early, it was only 06.00 when he entered a quiet bullpen. About an hour later, Tony and MacGee entered, "morning Boss" Each of them going to work on their latest case, they had closed it and were now in the process of finishing the huge amount of paperwork that came along with it.

No one noticed a small figure coming out of the elevator, who remained standing there quietly watching them.

Abby entered the bullpen, "Gibbs, I've got something you should…………….Zeeevaaaahhhhh you're back" Abby ran towards the small figure and gave Ziva the biggest hug she proberly ever received.

The rest of the day was filled with welcoming back Ziva, Ducky came by, Palmer did as well and by the end of the day Gibbs could tell Ziva was exhausted, and there was something else, he couldn´t quit tell what, but something was very wrong with his Liason Officer. He could see she was tired, but it wasn´t tired like the one you can fix with a good night sleep, no this was something else.

Gibbs gave Tony the order to take Ziva home, apparently Mossad had already arranged an apartment for her in the same building she stayed in before. He told Tony and Ziva to report back the next day, but not before 09.00, he didn´t want to see either of them before that. They drove back in silence, Ziva unlocking her door revealing boxes everywhere.

"like I said before, you don´t waste time, do you" Tony said. "how about if I go and get us something to eat, what would you like"

"Chinese, would be good" Ziva said softly. She chuckled a little, Tony knew exactly what she needed.

"oke, I 'll be back soon"

About 30 minutes later Tony opened the front door, he dropped the Chinese food on the table in the kitchen wondering where Ziva had gone to. He found her asleep on the bare mattress in what appeared to be the main bedroom. She hadn't even bothered to take her coat or her shoes off. It look liked she had just laid down and simply went to sleep.

"Ziva…….Ziva…… wake up, let´s take your coat off." Tony started to take her coat off but Ziva didn´t budge. She only moaned several times when he moved her left arm in order to get it out her coat, but other then that she had´n blinked an eye.

Tony decided to go ahead and just be content with sleeping next to her, leaving the Chinese food for another day.

Ziva woke up with a jolt, darkness all around her, no lights anywere, she was back in hell, she sat up straight only then realizing nothing was wrong other then the slow but steady breathing that Tony was making. She looked at him and thought he looked very peacefull when he was asleep like that, gently she made her way onto his chest loving the way it made her feel, safe and warm. When she wanted to put her left arm around him she was rewarded with a pain that reminded her of the fact that she wasn´t fully recovered yet, she knew she had to tell Gibss about the wounds. He´ll would have to put her on deskduty for awhile until she fully retained her mobility back, she didn´t look forward to the questions that would without a doubt be asked.

Tony woke up noticing that Ziva was already up and about, eating last night´s untouched Chinese diner, he laughed, "you're hungry" She nodded. "It's already 08.00, we should be going soon"

Tony quickly got himself ready for work and when he wanted to get something to eat, he realized she had eaten it all. "my god woman, when was the last time you ate. It was suppose to be a meal for two, not just you alone"

"well, I was hungry" Ziva said, meanwhile she was shoving the last of the Chinese food into her mouth.

Tony didn't quite know if he should ask her about her apperent discomfort during the night, she had woken him up several times as if she was trying to find a right spot to sleep on. He hadn't said anything during the night, but he couldn't stay silent any longer "what's wrong" He asked her.

"Nothing why do you ask" Ziva looked away "we should be going or we will be late my very first day back on the job" The diversion didn´t work.

Tony looked at Ziva "don't give me that, the entire night, you were tossing around, as if…." Tony stopped midsentence. "You got hurt"

Ziva knew she had to tell him at least something in order for him to stop pressuring her for answers.

So she told him a little bit, not everything. She wasn't ready ……she wasn't ready to share her fear, just jet.

The moment Ziva had shown her face at work she was called in to see Director Vance, when she entered the office wich was previously occupied by one of her best friends she couldn't help but feel sad. Jenny had been a good and dear friend. Director Vance welcomed her back, but also made it pretty clear that this was a trial and error run, he would tolerate no mistakes on her part, but if she did her job he would see no major obstacles in the way for a good relationship between Mossad and NCIS. When she left the office it was Gibbs's turn to call her in too his 'special' office, the elevator that he would when necessary be stopped whenever he felt like one of his agents needed a good talking too or when they needed a private moment , and he felt like Ziva needed a private moment.

"Talk to me" That was all he said.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author´s Note**

The tunnel idea came to me after watching a CNN report on Palestine boys, who are making tunnels to bring in food & beverages (and who knows what else). I am not making any judgments, I just took some information and worked with it.

I also want to thank the ones who read and reviewed my story, thanks for all your reactions.

Comments & language improvements are most welcome. Last night when I worked on chapter 3 the computer ate it, arghhh, don't ask me where it went, I don't know. So I decided to re-write it and it came out much better. Hopefully you'll enjoy.

**Chapter 3**

Ziva knew she had to be honest with him, she sighed and started to talk.

"Ever since Hamas and Fattah split up, Hamas has been building tunnels in order to bring in what ever they need, if it was just food, I don't think we would have stopped them so quickly. We found out that more and more weapons were brought into the region and we saw a huge increase in rockets being fired at us. We were ordered to investigate were the weapons came from, who received them, payments, basically we wanted to know everything"

Ziva took a deep breath and continued.

"One day my team and I noticed that a huge weapons delivery was taking place, we were ordered to stop it, a firefight broke out and the Hamas leader escaped fleeing into the tunnel. I went after him, but the problem with tunnels is, you just cannot hide anywere. So when he noticed me following him, he rolled a grenade to me……………I didn't get away fast enough, the tunnel blew up and I was buried under tons and tons of sand, it was everywere, my mouth, my ears everywere." Ziva shivered at the memory of that moment, the moment you just know you were going to die. "anyway after that I don't remember much, I was pulled out and rushed to hospital"

"how long were you in hospital" apparently Gibbs wanted to know everything.

"two, almost three months"

"How far along in your recovery are you"

"I have to report to the Israeli Embassy once a week with Doctor Moshe Cohen, so he can moniter my health and progress, and to see phsysioherapist in order to get my full mobility back."

"Why not go to Bethesda hospital, they have all the facilities there"

"Because then Mossad has to give out my medical details and how I got these injuries, and they are not willing to let any foreign agency know such details about any agent of theirs."

"when is your next appointment"

"this afternoon at 13.15"

"Good, I'll go with you"

"what" Ziva looked shocked. "You cannot do that"

"Yes, I can and I will, I need to know what my field agents can and cannot do" Gibbs wouldn't bow down on this, Ziva knew she couldn't talk her way out of this one.

So that afternoon Gibbs escorted Ziva to the Israeli Embassy where he met with Doctor Moshe Cohen. When Doctor Cohen ordered Ziva to remove her blouse so he could examine the wounds, Gibbs had no intention of leaving the room, both Ziva and Doctor Cohen stared at him when he said "You can stare all you want, but I want to see what the grenade did to her"

Doctor Cohen switched to Hebrew when he asked Ziva "If you don't object to him being here, I am oke with it, yess"

Ziva nodded, "it's allright" she answered back.

In order for Ziva to have some dignity while being checked out, Doctor Cohen left the room and came back with what appeared to be a hospital gown. When Ziva left the room, doctor Cohen kept staring at Gibbs, when Ziva reappeared she wore the hospital gown and had kept her jeans on as well. She was rather amused to see Doctor Cohen staring at Gibbs with a look that could only be descriped as total astonishment at someones total lack of protocol. Gibbs couldn't care less, he just wanted to know how bad Ziva had been injured.

In order for Doctor Cohen to check Ziva's wounds he had to remove the bandages that where there, when he had done so he turned around "I believe you wanted to see this"

When Gibbs came around the table he could see what the grenade had done to Ziva, her upper left side was covered with scars, most of them were bright red, her shoulder was the worst, and some of her left arm had also some damage done to it. According to Doctor Cohen most of the scars would disappear but some would remain.

"how about her mobility" Gibbs wanted to know it all.

"that will not be a problem, she'll get full mobility back, the only problem with Miss David is, she wants to much to quickly, she has to take it nice and slow"

Both Gibbs and Ziva remained silent for most of the way back to the NCIS headquarters.

"you know I have to put you on desk duty, don't you"

Ziva moaned, "yes, I know, I just don't like what comes with that"

Gibbs looked at Ziva "what do you mean"

"they will ask questions, questions I am not willing to answer just yet"

Both Gibbs and Ziva were on their way to the elevator at NCIS, when Gibbs turned around and asked "is there anything else I need to know"

Ziva looked at him, how could she tell him about that split second of total fear whenever she entered a dark room or the nightmares that were there almost every night.

"I don't like the dark anymore"she whispered. Gibbs took her in his arms. He knew, he understood.

Tony knew something was wrong the moment he saw Ziva and Gibbs leave the elevator, but before he could do or say anything, MacGee interrupted and told Gibbs a marine was found dead near a bar and they were told to investigate.

"let's go, Ziva stay here and check the marines background" Gibbs was back to his old self, barking orders left and right.

"uhhmm boss"

"yes MacGee"

"why isn't Ziva going with us" Gibbs looked at MacGee, "she has some issues to deal with before she can come with us again"

"issues, what issues ?" MacGee looked bewilderd, both Tony and Gibbs looked at one another, MacGee didn't know it yet. Tony was nearly whispering "MacGee, she got hurt pretty bad we nearly lost her, oke" MacGee turned a whiter shade of pale "oh, my god and I just said nothing, like I didn't care about her, I must ask her………….."

Gibbs stopped the elevator in mid air "oke, look you two, for now you will leave Ziva alone, she needs some time and space to get things back on track, so no questioning her, no playing practical jokes on her, just let her be, like I said she needs some time and space"

In the weeks that followed Gibbs got a weekly report on Ziva's progress by Doctor Cohen, she was getting better by the week, but no one other then Tony knew about the nightmares that would come back to haunt her. He knew that whatever had happened to her, it must have been bad. Ziva would never tell him anything, and he stood by helplessly whenever she would wake up screaming. He wouldn't do anything to harm her progress, but it was frustrating to him that she didn't confide in him. He wanted to help her so badly that his heart broke every time he saw the pain in her eyes after yet another nightmare, but for now he just loved waking up next to her, just simply looking at her whenever she did sleep peacefully. Give her time and space and she would eventually open up to him, but for now all he could do was just be there for her.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Ziva was going nuts, Tony had been the perfect gentleman the last view weeks, he would come over, make diner, take her out to fancy restaurants, watch movies with her but never made one move towards her. It was driving her insane.

Even at work he would leave her alone, no jokes were made on her account, poor MacGee was the one that got it all, but on her side it was downright boring, she began to long for the day that doctor Moshe Cohen would give her the all clear.

That night she lay besides Tony, who once again didn´t do anything not even the tiniest move, not even when she started to make the first moves, she was getting pissed about it, she just wanted him, hmmmm she thought, is this how men feel when a woman plays hard to get.

Later that week doctor Cohen gave Ziva the all clear, on one condition, she was going to have to take it nice and slow. He made sure Gibbs was aware of that fact before he signed the release form. The following day, Ziva and Tony had to pick up a witness who needed to be brought in for a line up.

They knocked on his door. "Mr. Rivers, Tony DiNozzo, NCIS we talked on the phone yesterday, we would like it if you would come with us to identify a suspect"

Tony and Ziva looked at each other when they heard noices coming from the back.

Tony sighed "why do they always run, he's just a witness for crying out loud"

When they rounded the corner, they saw the man disappear into the sewer.

Tony didn't think much of it when he lowerd himself into the sewer as well, he looked up and saw Ziva staring down at him and slowly she made her way down aswel.

Tony started to go after the man they were chasing, after a view hundred meters almost crawling on his hands and knees through the sewer, he realized Ziva wasn't with him.

Tony went back to find Ziva only a view meters away from the entrance, she was squatting and slowly rocking back and forth and mumbling something in Hebrew.

Tony sat down with her, knowing something was terribly wrong. "what's wrong, why …."He was cut off in the middle of his sentence, when Ziva yelled at him. "I can't do it, it's too dark, it's just too dark" She more or less crawled back to the ladder and got out.

"what the hell" Tony went after her. "what the hell are you yelling at me for, it's not my fault you are afraid off the dark, did your daddy tell you to much ghost stories when you were little"

Ziva turned around and slapped him in the face and was literally screaming at him "you don't know, you don't understand, you wouldn't understand"

"then tell me, so I can try to understand" Tony was getting made, ever since she got back she looked like she carried the world on her shoulders, but she never opened up to him. He had given her space, time or whatever else she needed, he had done exactly what Gibbs told him, but he had enough already, he needed to know what was eating her up inside, it was driving him insane not to hold her, to touch her, to make love to her, to feel every part of her body.

When they got back at NCIS Gibbs looked surprised "didn't I make myself clear, I send you two to go and get me my witness "

"he got away" Tony looked at Ziva "he was just too fast for us to catch up" Gibbs looked at the two of them and decided to let it be, evidently something had happened between these two.

Ziva went home early, what had she done, she slapped Tony in the face, he hadn't deserved that, when she was lying in bed she couldn't help but feel guilty.

Tony couldn't sleep either, what was wrong with her. He flipped through the TV channels but never really looked, not even at a old episode of Magnum P.I could peek his interest. When his doorbell rang, he opened up to see Ziva standing there.

"hi"she said and small smile appeared on her face. "can I come in"

"Yes, sure" Tony backed off and Ziva walked in, when Tony closed his door, he was about to tell Ziva how sorry he was for his outburst from this afternoon, when she put a finger on his mouth, "shhhhh, I do the talking yes" Tony nodded, grabbing her hand as reassurance. Somehow he knew she would need it. Ziva took a deep breath closed her eyes and started to talk. She told him everything, about being blown up in the tunnel, about being buried alive, her wounds, the three months in hospital, her nightmares, but most of all her current fear of the darkness, which was the cause of their fight from this afternoon.

When she was done, Tony was near tears. "Why didn't you tell me, I could have been there for you"

She was moved by him, he cried for her. God, how she loved him, he truly was her soulmate. She slowly started to move towards him "You of all people have been there for me Tony, be there for me now, I need to feel you Tony, I need to feel you touch me, love me, make me yours again. Please don't turn me away"

"God, Ziva you don't know how much I have wanted you for the last view weeks, but Gibbs told us you needed time and space, and I agreed, so that is what I gave you"

"well, I am telling you now, I am done with time, and I am certainly done with the fact, you giving me space" Ziva started to remove his shirt, but was stopped by Tony "no, it's my turn now"

He removed her coat, then started with her shirt, but in turn was stopped by Ziva. "I ……scars…"

"shhhh,be silent my little ninja woman and let me look for myself" Tony proceeded with the removal of her shirt and when he saw the scars on her left arm and shoulder, he held his breath, all the time they were together she made sure he never really got to see them, he knew she got wounded, but she never really allowed him to see the full extent of her injuries. Tony moved to Ziva's back, and when he started to kiss each and every one of the scars he felt Ziva shivering with anticipation.He slowly moved down, first he removed her bra and then got rid of her trousers, and before Ziva could even respond to any of this he covered her mouth with his. Ziva let go of what little control she had left and made sure Tony was getting rid of his clothes just as fast as she was getting rid of hers.

When Tony carried her into his bedroom, he asked her. "Can we do this, did your doctor gave the all clear" Ziva nodded "Yes, he just had one condition, just take it nice and slow, and I fully agree with him, we have to take it nice and slow" The time of healing had begun.

**The End**

Author's Note

This was my very first story, but more are to follow. Thank you very much for all your input. I was scared at first, but all of you made me feel very welcome.


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